Shaker Village, Inc.

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage In 2003, the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire, had 58,000 visitors, 71 percent of whom were from outside the state. The village seeks to build audiences within the state, attract families, and encourage repeat visits by offering an in-depth, customizable visual experience through the creation of thematic virtual exhibits that offer a free-choice learning experience that complements the guided tours. In addition, off-site visitors will be able to experience the visual history of the Canterbury Shakers. In this project, the village will digitize 8,000 historic photographs (57 percent of its collection of historic photographs) depicting life at the Canterbury Shaker Village and create a database of digital images. This database will be accessible to researchers, scholars, visitors, and village staff through a research kiosk in the archives, at a virtual exhibit kiosk in the family center, and through the Take a Peek Web site. The primary goals of the project are to increase access to the photos, enhance the onsite and off-site visitor experience, and preserve the irreplaceable original photos.